The being known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker may be encountered any time between the late 4th century CE to the 18th century CE. After that point, he transforms into the modern Santa Claus. He is an appropriate encounter for Weird Wars Rome, Pirates of the Spanish Main, The Savage World of Solomon Kane and even 50 Fathoms.

Nikolaos the Wonderworker is the transcendent form of the man known in life as St. Nicholas of Myra. An exceptionally devout and generous thaumaturgist in life, St. Nicholas was transformed at his death into a beneficent undead known as a transcendent being. Literally given new life and new purpose by his faith, Nikolaos the Wonderworker wanders the world, battling demons and bestowing boons.

By the 1600s, Nikolaos’ long centuries of undeath and absorption of the ambient Power Points of thousands of faithful from dozens of cultures has begun to wear on his mind. He has begun to transcend even beyond his initial rebirth, becoming a cross-cultural embodiment of midwinter generosity. Folk beliefs descended from Nordic myths and other cultures have begun to permeate his mind; soon he will be Father Christmas, and soon after that, he will be Santa Claus – and the memory of whom he was in life will be gone.

A hero who dedicates herself to a selfless life serving the tenets of her faith may transcend her mortal existence and take her place amongst the gods, becoming an immortal being that exists to literally embody her faith. While the most obvious examples of such transcendent beings are Buddhist bodhisattvas and Christian saints, transcendents may arise amongst any faith or species.*

Transcendent effectively become beneficent undead, gaining many of the benefits of undeath while avoiding the more pernicious detriments of that condition. Most importantly, transcendent beings “feed” on Power Points rather than blood or flesh.

Transcendents must consume 5 Power Points a day to maintain their undead state. Transcendents are usually able to subsist on the ambient Power Points present in “unawakened” beings and natural phenomena (what is often referred to a chi, qi, or Vril energy); by first learning to tap into their own soul’s reserves through Soul Drain, and then experiencing transcendent enlightenment, transcendent learn to essentially Soul Drain the environment in a non-intrusive manner. Rituals may be conducted by a transcendent being’s followers or cultists to feed them (see Savage Worlds Horror Companion, specifically the rules for accumulating Power Points in rituals), but this is unnecessary if the transcendent makes their home at or near a conjunction of ley lines or similar mystical site (such as the North Pole or Stonehenge).

Transcendent beings cut off from ambient Power Points (perhaps by being trapped inside a ritual circle, on a lifeless planet, or in a void dimension) are forced to consume their own stored Power Points (supplementing this with uses of Soul Drain as needed). A transcendent that reaches 0 power Points falls into a coma from which it may be awakened only with a ritual infusion of Power Points.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

I sometimes get ideas stuck in my brain, ideas that demand I
write about them even when it interrupts the flow of other work I should be
doing. I should be writing The King is
Dead and then a bunch of mecha/kaiju ideas pop into my brain, or I should
be working on the Japan section for Steamscapes:
Asia and all I can think about is wuxia instead. For the last couple of
weeks, I’ve really, really wanted to write some kind of holiday post (some Rankin-Bass-inspired
stats, or a Peter Pan-inspired
adventure) but all I can think about is sex.

You see, I’ve got this really terrible idea.

I’ve decided to expand the scope of Wine and Savages to include D&D 5E. My intention, after all,
wasn’t to use this blog as only a Savage Worlds fansite, but to use it as a
platform to launch a professional writing career. It only makes sense that I
try to learn to write for the most popular RPG out there.

That’s not the terrible idea.

As I’ve candidly admitted in the past, Dungeons & Dragons (specifically the AD&D Monster Manual) had a big, weird impact on my sexual development.
I’ve got some hang-ups and fetishes that can be traced directly back to fantasy
role-playing. I could easily write scores of posts about that stuff.

That’s the terrible idea.

The terrible, terrible idea is to start a second blog, a
blog I would call The Blog of Erotic Fantasy
or The Erotic Dungeon Master (if
either name isn’t taken). I’d write it under a pseudonym (probably “The Erotic
DM”) and use it to explore the seamy side of D&D. I’d do a multi-part dissection/review
of The Book of Erotic Fantasy and
update its contents for D&D 5E. I’d do a pastiche of the Volo’s Guides and delve into more detail
about the festhalls of the Forgotten Realms. I’d highlight sexy fantasy art. I’d
write terribly personal, soul-baring essays about my mixed-up youth. And I’d
probably tackle some actual socio-political issues because I wouldn’t be able
to help myself.

It would be a terrible mess.

It would be a terrible, terrible time sink. It would be
controversial and polarizing (in no small part because of my sex-positive
feminist views). It would probably get me in trouble with Wizards of the Coast
(I’d have to declare it a parody site and have a big, ol’ link to the Hustler Magazine v. Falwell stuff). It
would undoubtedly get exposed in the end and I’d wind up some marginalized
weirdo.

(I have to keep reminding myself that it’s a terrible idea.)

Obviously, I’m not going to do it. For one thing, I wouldn’t
be writing a post about a secret pseudonymous project if I was serious about
committing to it. For another, I just don’t have the time. It’s tempting,
though.

Taoist Internal Alchemy is the mystical art of balancing one’s chi. It is a difficult and demanding study that requires supreme self-knowledge and respect for the natural world. By attuning their minds and bodies, Taoists may attain incredible abilities and even immortality.

Imbalance: When an internal alchemist rolls a 1 on her Tao die (regardless of her Wild Die), she is automatically Shaken. This can cause a wound.

As Adept, but substituting Taoist Internal Alchemy for Miracles. In a Chinese wuxia setting, the standard Adept Edge may be considered to reflect the Buddhist martial arts tradition of Shaolin while Taoist Adept emulates the Wudang Sect (also known as the Wu-Tang Sect or Wu-Tang Clan).

Game Masters may either substitute the new power qinggong for speed in the list of powers Adepts and Taoist Adepts may activate as free actions, or simply add it addition to the powers listed in Savage Worlds Deluxe.

Youxia are the wandering heroes of wuxia fiction and legend. Youxia have forsaken the communal ties of Confucian Chinese society to instead seek personal enlightenment and perfection. They travel the land training in their martial arts and Arcane Backgrounds, seeking to become Masters.

Forsaking society, the youxia instead adopts the Code of Xia, a set of principles shared by all of the martial artists that brave the outlaw life. This outlaw world of martial artists is known as the jianghu or wulin; it is both a source of friendship and rivalry for all who dare to live by its code. The Code of Xia is both harsh and empowering; it demands a hero live by the following principles:
•Benevolence: Youxia should defend the weak; heroic youxia believe this requires serving the humble, while villainous youxia believe it means controlling them.
•Courage: Youxia are brave in the face of danger; this doesn’t mean they have to be foolhardy, but many are.
•Glory: A youxia may not necessarily seek worldly fame, but she does seek the respect of her peers; like an Old West gunfighter, the youxia cannot back down from a challenge.
•Individualism: The youxia must follow her own code first and foremost; lord and family come second. This emphasis on the self places the Code of Xia at odds with societal norms.
•Justice: Heroes pursue justice against those who prey on the weak, while villains see this principle as an excuse to avenge crimes against themselves. Youxia of all stripes are compelled to address slights to their honor.
•Loyalty: While loyalty to the emperor, lord, and family is unimportant to many youxia, loyalty to one’s friends, master, and students is a core of their beliefs.
•Poverty: A youxia needn’t turn her back on material wealth, but it must never be her overriding motivation. Many youxia lead lives as landless wanderers, owning nothing more than their clothes and weapons.
•Truthfulness: Heroes equate truthfulness with honesty and fairness in their dealings with others, but villains only see the value of truthfulness as being true to themselves.

Because of their reputation as protectors of the weak (and as fearsome martial artists), youxia gain a +2 to Charisma. They may also choose one of the following benefits:
•Gift of Metal - Heirloom Weapon: The youxia possesses a named weapon of astonishing strength (similar to the Green Destiny from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). She gains a weapon that is +1 to damage and to hit.
•Gift of Water - Mind and Body: The youxia has trained her mind or body to exceptional levels. She gains +1 die in a single Attribute.
•Gift of Wood - Well-Trained: The youxia has studied with a master of incredible skill. She gains a single Combat Edge of Seasoned Rank (for which she must qualify normally).
•Gift of Fire - Reputation: The youxia is well-known in the world of martial arts. She gains the Connections (jianghu) Edge.
•Gift of Earth - Well-Equipped: The youxia has accumulated more gear in her travels than most of her fellows. She starts with three times the normal starting funds

Qinggong allows a character to run up sheer surfaces and make impossible leaps. Heroes can run across the tops of bamboo forests, the sides of buildings, and even water.

With a success, the recipient may move up to her normal Pace either vertically or horizontally, as long as she ends the round on a horizontal surface that she would normally be able to stand on. A character may run while practicing qinggong to increase this distance, suffering the usual -2 running penalty to other actions. On a raise, running is a free action and incurs no penalty.

A character may also use qinggong to pounce on an opponent. By sacrificing 2” of movement, the character leaps higher to gain momentum. This adds +4 to the character’s attack roll and damage, but the character’s Parry is reduced by -2 until her next action.

That map post I put up last week was surprisingly popular, so I thought I'd post another map for the hell of it. This is Zhàndòu, a wuxia-themed setting I created for Savage Insider. I expect that when the "Taking Action" issue is printed, there will be a much prettier version of the map in it; I gave permission to Vickey Beaver to have someone else redraw it because I suck.

I mean, look at that river! Rivers don't have up-and-down waves! What the hell was I thinking?! And why didn't I draw it all the way down the map? Why didn't I label it with its name?

I'm not going to go into any detail about it because that would give away the article. One thing I am specifically proud of though is that I don't actually describe all of the locations in the article. I deliberately left the tofu shop and ruined temple as mysteries for the GM to fill in, which I think is an awesome, punk rock, DIY thing to do.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

I've never really drawn a lot of maps in my GMing career, but I find myself in need of one for the The King is Dead playtest campaign I'm running these days.

This is Hammershire (almost called Thornshire, again), the new base of operations for the heroes. It is a wealthy, vital county that is nevertheless basically a backwater because it's way up in the hills and just a bit too rustic for vampire tastes. Any resemblance to the Texas Hill Country is completely deliberate.

The majestic River Hammer begins here in the lofty Gianthalls Mountains before it winds its way into the lowlands and the sea; one could take a boat all the way from Thornburg to the nation's capital of Hammerstadt. The county is otherwise dominated by the broad, low hills of the Dimmsmoor, the pine forest of the Dammerungenwald, oak forests (the Feywald, Buckwald, and briar-infested Thornholt), the deep and cold Grostlake, and the ragged granite Broken Hills. The misnamed Boggan Stream (it's more of a river) marks the border of the shire.

The area was a key holding of the resistance during King Wilhelm's conquest, so an excess of vampire families were awarded lands in Hammershire in order to help put the rebels down. Senior branches of the Borgoff, Durward, and Stenzgard lines hold castles, while junior branches of the Elbourne and Karnstein families have manors. As is typical of the nobles of Malleus, most of the actual vampires spend their time attending the king in Hammerstadt, leaving their dhampyres and thralls to run the estates. When they do visit, the vampires prefer society in the town of Thornburg to the seclusion of their estates. Only Duke Lothar Eligos von Stenzgard remains at his castle year-round, and he became quite the hermit when he entered his sixth century of unlife.

Since this is a really, really informal post, here's a bullet list of bullet-points on the locations:

Thornburg: Not quite a city, this large town is the first/last place riverboats can safely navigate the Hammer, and has built its wealth on the river trade. It is home to the local bishopric and has a large castle. Important products are lumber, gold, and wool.

Lesser Thornburg: Is technically a newer, different settlement from the town, but it all just kind of blends together.

Richstead: A town that serves as a base for gold miners exploring the Gianthalls. It is also becoming a tourist spot as the inhabitants of Malleus begin to embrace the new fashion for mountain climbing.

Maldon: The second-largest town. Produces iron and wool (the gold in the mine is largely played out).

Mittelham and Rammston: Market towns in the midst of the shire's largest concentration of farms.

Bogganford: The ford itself has always been chancy, and the town has never grown to its full potential. Most of the traffic -- even from neighboring Rothenshire just across the Boggan Stream -- usually takes the King's Road through Bendingham instead.

Bendingham: The gateway to Hammershire is an unremarkable place. Its attempts to remake itself as a picturesque spa town have been unsuccessful.

Laketon: Home to a thriving fishing community and a minor logging industry.

Oddsglen: More logging camp than town, the community is considered a mite uncanny by the rest of Hammershire.

Crap, I just realized I forgot to put a key on the map. The weird domed buildings are churches and the crosshatch-looking marks are farmland.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Despite being an unathletic nerd, I’ve never been much into
wizards. I vastly prefer swords to sorcery, and I’m a little disappointed that
the majority of the players in my current The
King is Dead test campaign chose to play magic-users.I can’t blame them, though; taking an Arcane
Background is basically getting several more Edges for free, and the only
penalty is that you have to use a special Skill to utilize those Edges.

Which gives me an idea for fencing/martial arts schools…

What if each school used a special, separate-from-Fighting
Skill and gave access to an increased number of Combat Edges?Something like this:

In order to utilize the bonus Edges from the school, the
hero would have to use the specialized skill (not Fighting). When she took
additional Combat Edges, she could choose from the allowed Edges for the school
and use those with the specialty skill, or take them as “generic Combat Edges”
and utilize them with Fighting. Perhaps the starting Edges wouldn’t require
meeting the usual requirements, too…

Hmm…

In any case, it’s a thought.I’ll have to put a bit more thought into it before I utilize it as a
rule for The King is Dead (or write a
Savage Insider article), but I think
it has potential.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Strider has been published! If you're a Steamscapes: Asia backer, you should have an e-mail waiting for you with a link to download the PDF.

This is my first time writing a long-form adventure, but I think I did a pretty good job. (I certainly hope I've picked up something after 25 years of gaming.) I'd love to hear your feedback, though, so please feel free to comment here or on Google+. Send me an e-mail if you like!

Eric kindly calls it a mini-campiagn, but I'd say it's more just an old TSR-style adventure. In either case, it's 27 pages of NPCs, new equipment, plots, and random encounter tables that should hopefully add up to a month's worth of gaming sessions.

It's a cross-country quest and a murder mystery rolled into one. There's a robot geisha, a steam-powered mecha, and chanbara-style wandering swordsmen to be found within. There's gratuitous Seven Samurai and Godzilla Easter eggs. Some of the weirdest figures in Meiji Japan make appearances -- including Saitō effin' Hajime.

As part of the whole sales pitch, I promised that I would also convert it to Deadlands and other Savage Worlds steampunk settings. That will probably just take the form of blog entries providing converted NPC stats and (minor) setting tweaks. I really need a break after busting my butt to get this written over the last three weeks, so expect those to start in December. In the meantime, if you're the publisher or writer of a Savage Worlds steampunk setting, please consider the cross-promotional benefits of providing me with a copy of your setting book. :) The only ones I've actually got are Deadlands Reloaded and Gaslight 1st Edition.

Eric says he plans on publishing it commercially after the backers have had a chance to enjoy it for a bit. We're happy to take any feedback you want to give on it to make it better. I implore you to leave comments! How will I ever learn otherwise?

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Okay, it took a little longer than I wanted it to, but I got sick and it couldn't be helped.

Strider -- the adventure module I promised backers of Steamscapes: Asia -- is finished. I just e-mailed it to Eric Simon, so that gives him a week to get it formatted. I certainly hope he's not trying to do anything too fancy with it...

This now means that I have to start working on completing the Japan section of the book, but I should be able to work at a more relaxed pace. Which will be good for my health... And the blog... And The King is Dead.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Yesterday on Google+,
I wished that somebody else would write a Super Powers
Companion-compatible science-fantasy sword and sorcery setting in the vein
of Blackstar, He-Man and the
Masters of the Universe, Crystar the Crystal
Warrior, etc. Response was enthusiastic and – of course – my stupid brain
immediately began churning out ideas.

Dammit.

Anyway, here’s some notes toward an
SFS&S setting…

EDEN3

World
of Wonders

A wondrous world

Worlds have risen and worlds have died
many times since the Cosmos was born. Now – one the far reaches of the Cosmos –
a new world is in its birth pangs. Eden3has been
seeded by far-traveled, long-lost civilizations and now its barbarous
inhabitants struggle to master the strange wonders their forebears left behind.

ARC-Angels

Though the orbiting supercomputer DeusMAX and its cadre of ARC-Angels were set in place to defend Eden3from extraplanetary interference, a serpent has still come to this wondrous garden…

Probes from the Blight, a malevolent techno-organic
empire, have breached DeusMAX’s defenses above the eastern continent of
Sylvania, where they convert land and people into drones…

Blighted lands

Emissaries from the Blight – representing
themselves as humanoid ambassadors of a foreign power, rather than the soulless
constructs of an evil machine – have sown discord in the other lands of Eden3.

Siliconoids

They have sown the seeds of civil war amongst the
Siliconoids of the Ringing Mountains…

Thunder-Tamers

And amidst the Thunder-Tamers of the southern
continent of Primordia...

Feralia

They have awakened an ancient evil in the northern
lands of Feralia…

Millennia

And uncovered hidden magic on the western continent
of Millennia...

DeusMAX has responded by alerting the world’s
natives through signs and portents, sending ARC-Angels as its messengers, and
awakening heroes.

The fate of Eden3 is in the balance. Will you
champion Good or Evil?

Design Notes

No Ersatz Good Guys

A pet peeve I have with a lot of
settings inspired by unlicensed properties is that they stick in NPCs that take
all the good parts. In every damned superhero setting, there’s always some NPC
who’s already Superman, who’s already Batman, who’s already Wonder Woman.
Cartoon Action Hour has its own pseudo-Masters
of the Universe setting, but then ruins it by inserting its own version of
He-Man.Screw that. The players of the campaign
should get to take those roles (if they want them). It might be helpful to
include some character builds as examples, but they’ll be really, really
generic examples like “World’s Strongest Man” or “Felinoid Noble.”

Bad guys,
on the other hand, are fair game. I’m already thinking “Nekronomikus” for the
Skeletor knock-off.

Race Build Packages

I figure a good way to help save
time on building characters would be to put together some “races” as packages
of powers. I can’t remember how many points Four-Color Heroes get, but I’d say
take about a third of those to go to standardized races – Siliconoids,
Felinoids, Weaponeers, etc. – and then the rest can be customized for
individual characters. This might mean breaking some of the power-buying rules,
but who really cares? I don’t.

(“Weaponeers”
is my half-formed thought as to how to characterize She-Ra, He-Man, Blackstar, Thundarr,
and most of their human friends. Most of them seem to have some kind of gimmick
related to a weapon or piece of armor – like all of the above’s swords or Fisto’s
big honkin’ glove – hence “Weaponeers.”)

Savage, Not Silly

As much as Eden3 may be inspired by a bunch of goofy
toys, this wouldn’t be a saccharine-sweet setting. In this world, the heroes
get to actually hit people with their magical swords and mighty fists. There
would be peril and death and competent villains. You could – I suppose – run it
as a kid-friendly setting, but that’s not how I would run it.

Friday, November 14, 2014

The gentleman thief (also “lady thief” or “phantom thief”)
is a cunning and charismatic cat burglar. He is as adept in social settings as
he is in picking locks and scaling heights. The gentleman thief is generally
averse to physical violence, and prefers to use his cunning to confound his
foes. Gentleman thieves usually work alone or with small bands of allies, but
have been known to become leaders of criminal syndicates.

In the upheavals
of the Meiji Restoration, one woman has risen from poverty to triumph. The
former guttersnipe who now calls herself “Nabeshima Toyoko” or “the Princess of
Hizen” frequents the grand hotels and embassies of the newly-christened Tokyo
in her self-claimed guise as a woman of wealth and power. There she steals from
Japanese ministers and foreign dignitaries alike, adding to her wealth while
embarking on a grand scheme to be the queen of Japan’s underworld.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The following are stock NPC archetypes for a Savage Worlds
chanbara setting. They represent typical samurai that might be encountered in
the tense, uneasy “peace” of the Tokugawa Shogunate rather than the martial
valor of the Sengoku era.

New Background Edge

Samurai

Requirements: Novice

While the samurai are often thought
of as Japanese nobility, this isn’t quite true. The samurai of the Sengoku and
Edo eras were a much larger, much more varied caste than European nobility.
They ran the gamut from impoverished farmer samurai to the wealthy retainers of
the shogun. They were united by a common background as the warriors or servants
of their lords, but otherwise varied greatly.

The
defining aspect of the samurai was the exclusive right to own and wield the daishō
– the matched pair of katana and wakizashi – and so any character with the Samurai
Edge begins play with those weapons. As the only authorized wielders of swords,
even the poorest samurai also had the right of life and death over peasants and
so gains a +2 to Charisma to reflect the persuasive power of a sharp sword.

[Game
Masters enforcing historical gender roles in their campaign may wish to grant a
naginata and tanto to female samurai rather than the daishō.]

Samurai, Typical

A Typical Samurai might be the
retainer of a daimyo or a minor official in the shogunate. This samurai is going
to be called on more often for her intellectual skills than for her fighting
abilities, but she still trains regularly in case she’s deployed to quell a
peasant rebellion or needs to defend her lord. Samurai acting as police or
assassins will have a higher Fighting skill and additional combat edges.

A Poor Samurai will be a lesser
retainer to the daimyo of a poor domain or one who that has lost political
favor. During the Tokugawa Shogunate,
the daimyo were divided between the shinpan and fudai daimyo (relatives of the Tokugawa
and early allies of the clan respectively) and the tozama daimyo who allied
with the Tokugawa after the wars were over. The shogunate often tried to
deliberately bankrupt these untrustworthy vassals, and the retainers of the tozama
lords sometimes found themselves laboring as builders and farmers.

A Wealthy Samurai might be a daimyo
or an important official in the shogunate. This samurai is a political and
social threat more than a physical one; this samurai is connected and can wield
his or her retainers against the player characters or call in favors with his
or her superiors.

A ronin is
a samurai without a master and therefore outside of the social order. Most
desperately work to be accepted by a new clan, but some descend into banditry
and lawlessness. These statistics represent the latter; ronin trying to go
straight would be Typical or Poor Samurai with the Outsider Hindrance.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

I am not a fan of overly-detailed character backgrounds.
Playing an RPG is not the same as writing a novel nor is it the same as acting
for the stage or screen. Player characters need to be flexible and open enough
that players can always find a way to justify their characters participating in
the game at hand. “My character wouldn’t do that” is the stupidest, most
selfish thing a roleplayer can say at the gaming table, and far too many gamers
of my acquaintance use detailed character backgrounds as an excuse to be jerks
to their fellow players (and those fellow players include the GM).

That said, when you’re writing an adventure (as opposed to a
dungeon) or a setting for others to GM and play, you obviously need to provide
some background on the NPCs. Action comes from motivation, and motivation comes
from background. How much background do you need to include to provide
motivation?

I’ve got three articles coming up in the next Savage
Insider. One is an Auspicious Archetypes article in which I provide a build and
new Edges for an archetype called “the Badass” – a charismatic fighter in the
vein of John Shaft and James Bond.The
next is a character spotlight article focusing on a Zorro-like heroine called
La Pantera and her associated cast of NPCs. The third is a detailed location, a
pseudo-Chinese, pseudo-Silk Road city intended as a setting for wuxia
adventures.

While only the last article is technically about the setting,
they’re really all kind of mini-settings. The Badass article contains a short
Savage Tale – a ‘70s grindhouse adventure called “Frisco Freakout” – and the La
Pantera article contains the aforementioned cast of characters and a few short
adventure seeds.The setting article, of
course, contains a map and a breakdown of local factions and important NPCs.

The thing is, though, that none of these NPCs receives more
than a single paragraph of description.

Do you really need any more than that?For me, at least, it’s really, really easy to
extrapolate characterization in Savage Worlds from a few lines of backstory and
a character’s Hindrances and Edges.

Hindrances are penalties that players give their characters
in order to earn points they can spend for additional cool stuff during
character creation.Many of these
Hindrances are psychological – Bloodthirsty, Greedy, Heroic – and even the
purely mechanical Hindrances – Blind, One Arm, Young – have implied backstory
to them.

While Edges – the special abilities and powers you can buy
with those points – are largely mechanical, the particular Edges chosen can
really inform character too.A Quick
character redraws initiative cards of 5 or less; a Level Headed character, on
the other hand, draws two initiative cards and uses the best. The former
implies greater raw speed and the latter implies a greater ability to react to
changing circumstances.

For example, here’s an NPC from “Zhàndòu: City of Warriors:”

The most prominent caravanserai is
the House of Xiang. It is a large complex close to the fortress, and contains a guǎn (training hall), living quarters,
stables, and storage buildings. Master Xiang Kairan is not only a commercial
power in the city, but also the wulin
mengzhu – the acknowledged leader of the local martial artists. He is a
master of the Tiger Fist style and teaches that to his employees. The Tigers of
Xiang are widely acknowledged as the true force of order and justice in Zhàndòu
City – riding out to fight the bandits when the garrison abandons caravans to
their fate – but this has led to them becoming arrogant and boastful. Xiang
Kairan is not a young man, and, while he increasingly turns his thoughts to the
afterlife, his students are getting out of control. It may soon be time for a
new wulin mengzhu.

Gear: Rich but not ostentatious formal robes; the master of the
Tiger Fist style prefers to fight unarmed, but will wield a ji or jian when
fighting bandits.

That paragraph of backstory tells us that Master Xiang is a rich kung fu
master and entrepreneur.He’s basically
head of the local adventurer’s guild, but he’s getting on in years.His students are honorable but full of
themselves, and tend to push others around.That’s all I really need to run an NPC, but what more do his stats tell
us?

·Attributes:
His Attributes are all d8; d6 is the human average, so we know Master Xiang
is above-average in everything. He’s
faster, smarter, and stronger than your average Joe, but not superhuman.

·Skills:
D12 is the highest skill die available – but the true master of a skill can get
up to a+2 bonus by taking extra Edges; Xiang is a great fighter, but not the
best. Have his skills deteriorated in old age, or did he just never push
himself to that extra level? As a GM, that’s the kind of ambiguity I like in an
NPC to allow me to make the character my own.That he’s better at Taunt than Persuasion indicates he’s not the most
diplomatic of leaders, but his rank in Streetwise shows he knows the right
people to get things from.

·Hindrances:
Code of Honor tells us he’s a man of his word, but – as the expanded
information on the wuxia code of honor contains in the article explains – that also
means he won’t turn the other cheek when insulted. There’s an actual Hindrance called Elderly
that imposes serious physical restrictions; since he doesn’t have it, that
implies he’s not that old. His
eyesight is going and he’s going to tend to shout and ask “What did you say?” a
lot, but he’s still hale and hearty.

·Edges:
Brawler, Bruiser, and Improved Martial Artist all add raw damage to a character’s
unarmed attacks; Improved First Strike says that he’ll try to hit you first
rather than react to your maneuver, while Improved Frenzy means he’s gets extra
attacks. In other words, his Tiger Fist style is about sheer power.He’s only got a couple of Leadership Edges,
so he’s never invested all that much energy in being a leader (no wonder his
students are out of control).His
Connections are within the jianghu –
the martial arts community – instead of civil authority or the military;
between those Connections, his Charisma, and his Streetwise, he’s obviously
pretty capable at getting things done despite his limited interest in leadership.

Tough and charismatic with a vicious fighting style, it seems like there’s a
couple of ways to interpret his personality.One would be a Good Old Boy – a guy who knows everyone and keeps it
homey and “real.”Another would be as a
Man’s Man – and aging Clint Eastwood of a martial artist, less a leader than
just the toughest guy on the block.Another would be the Angry Old Man – a former tough guy who’s losing his
edge and is pretty pissed about it.Even
though I wrote this character, I swear that I have no definitive interpretation
of how to play him.As a GM, I prefer
that flexibility, but I know that isn’t true for everyone.

Since I’m now writing professionally, is this enough for me to provide?Do I need to give GMs multi-page backgrounds
for important NPCs?How much detail is
enough?I know that every circumstance
will be unique – there’s some mysteries in the adventure I’m writing for Steamscapes: Asia, and I know I’ll have
to provide more background than I usually do on some of the characters – but is
it better to err on the side of verbosity or brevity?

Thursday, October 30, 2014

I really wanted to produce some awesome Halloween content
this year, but writing for Savage Insider, running a new The King is Dead campaign, promoting Steamscapes: Asia, and drinking my way through Texas Wine Month
have kind of gotten in the way.In lieu
of new material, I present the following annotated list from the Wine and
Savages archives.

The King is Dead

My longest-running project here is The King is Dead, a gonzo Gothic 18th century
revolutionary setting where the aristocrats are vampires so you don’t have to
feel guilty about slaughtering them all.As much as there is on the blog, there’s even more unpublished.It will – eventually – get published, but
paying writing work is too tempting to resist right now.

PWYW For This Thing We Wrote!

Four-in-Hand Games

Wine and Savages + DriveThruRPG

Steamscapes by Four-in-Hand Games

Buy This Thing I Wrote!

Buy This Thing I Wrote!

Buy This Thing I Wrote

Buy This Thing I Wrote

Featuring "The Super-Power Toybox: Beyond Capes and Tights"

Buy This Thing I Wrote

Featuring "An Abundance of Gods," an examination of Shinto.

Buy This Thing I Wrote

Contains "The Badass," a new character archetype complete with new Edges, Hindrances, and a funky grindhouse adventure; "La Pantera," a Zorro-esque pulp superheroine and her supporting cast; and "Zhàndòu: City of Warriors," a wuxia setting that includes adventure seeds and crappy maps I drew!